Out Of the Cold Will Make Us Better
by planet p
Summary: Chloe gets lost.


**Thanks to _Radon65_ for telling me that Rush's eyes are brown and not blue, as I'd thought they were.**

The storm raged across the planet's fragile surface, unstoppable, unquenchable. Its roar pained, its force of strength tossed and tumbled the helpless to and fro, ploughing through the delicate lifelines of hope held within the humanoids that walked the surface.

Humans, of origin on the planet Earth, in point of fact.

Chloe Armstrong coughed, drawing panicked breaths, the small, crumbling sound lost to nature's flickering temperament enclosing her from all sides, weakening her feeble attempts to fight the forces pushing and pulling. She stumbled from side to side, right, then left; left, then right. She was seasick with it all, and it hadn't done yet.

It had further plans.

Visibility zero, she staggered forward, wandering without aim or direction, in any direction that she could.

It was the rain that did it, an eerie lull falling with the heavy, Antarctic drops.

In what seemed like moments, she was soaked through, gripped by an onset of bone-deep shivering. Why did it have to be so cold?

There was something about the rain, too, she decided. Different to the rain on Earth.

But that was silly!

Her brain wasn't working, she thought.

Her gaze took in her surroundings, the battered ground, and plant life. The absence of shoeprints.

Alone!

She was alone!

There were her shoeprints, soft indentations on the earth, quickly filled by muddy, unclear water. She took squelchy footsteps. Her legs felt tired, worn.

_Electric eels, I might add_

_Do it_

She gave her head a cursory shake; it felt strange. Stuffy. She should have been looking for the others, she'd been with them, then, she suddenly hadn't.

_Though it shocks them_

She whipped around and a scream rose up in her throat. For a moment, she thought that he'd been… something else…

"Where are the others?" Brown eyes were filled with concern. (The brown reminded her of mountains, strangely, and mountain earth.) They needed to regroup, and they needed to do it soon.

There were no mountains here, on this angry planet.

_I know_

Chloe tripped, held back by the mud as she attempted to extricate her shoe from it.

Rush caught her, eyes distant.

She shook her head against his chest. What was wrong with her?

_Let's do it_

She'd been walking in mountainous terrain as a schoolgirl; she'd been too afraid to try abseiling. (She'd sat on a rock and scribbled in the dirt with a stick: _Chloe is a chicken._)

"I can't?"

"You can't what?"

"I think something… is wrong…" Why did her voice sound like that? Gummy, gooey. Clogged.

"How long have you been out here? Alone?"

A frown worked its way onto her face, slowly. "The others-"

"The others have been back to the Destiny, and back. They've been looking for you, Chloe."

"We were looking for-"

Rush lifted her chin to get a look at her face. "We need to go back."

"I thought-"

"Stop thinking, you're alright now."

"I'm cold," she mumbled.

"I know."

They seemed to walk for a long, long time. Chloe didn't remember going through the Stargate, she only remembered being back on the _Destiny_. Being with T.J. T.J.'s hands were warm and dry; Rush wasn't holding her anymore.

"You got lost," T.J. told her.

Chloe closed her eyes.

_Let's_

* * *

"You need to watch her; she recently lost her father."

The voice went in and out, before her eyes opened, revealing T.J. and Rush.

Rush looked at her; he'd seen her open her eyes. T.J. looked, too, a moment later.

"Can I have water, please?" she asked politely.

T.J. nodded. She'd get it for her.

"I feel fuzzy."

But T.J.'s not there.

She'd gone to get the water, Chloe remembered. "Am I okay?" she asked Rush. He hadn't gone with T.J.

"You are now," he told her, but he wasn't looking at her.

What was he looking at? Didn't he know it was impolite not to look at the person you were talking to? "I'm here," she said.

"I know where you are, Chloe," he replied.

"Then why won't you look at me?"

He looked at her.

"Why are you mad at me?" She frowned in thought. "Are you mad at me?" She's thirsty, suddenly. "I want some water," she said.

"T.J.'s getting it, at present," Rush told her.

"Do I get a present?" Her eyes shone with excitement, but she couldn't remember why there should be presents.

"There are no presents, Chloe," Rush said.

"Here you go, honey." T.J.'s voice was back, and she was standing there, too. She held out the cup of water.

Chloe took a sip; T.J. helped so she didn't spill any on herself. "Am I okay?" she asked T.J.

"Oh yes, honey."

Chloe closed her eyes, they'd gone all sleepy on her.

"Somehow, I don't think so," a man's voice said, before all of the voices went away.

* * *

"He's insufferable."

Chloe sat up, blinking. "Who is?" she asked, smiling.

T.J. spun about, and looked at her. "No one," she remarked, and made her way over.

Chloe's smile lessened to a non-smile. "Is Rush mad at me?" she asked.

T.J. shook her head, just a small shake. "I don't think so, hon, I think that's just how he is."

Chloe grinned.

"How do you feel now, hon?" T.J. asked her.

"I feel fine."

"That's great."

* * *

**Out Of the Cold Will Make Us Better** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _SGU_, or _Let's Do It_.


End file.
